


Mixtape of Our Love

by dumbsbian



Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Angry JJ, F/F, Friends to Lovers, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Inspired by Music, Minor Jennifer "JJ" Jareau/William LaMontagne Jr., Slow Burn, Teen Angst
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-08
Updated: 2021-03-06
Packaged: 2021-03-18 15:21:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 20,427
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28620237
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dumbsbian/pseuds/dumbsbian
Summary: In which I use songs that I like to try and help me tell a story.
Relationships: Jennifer "JJ" Jareau/Emily Prentiss
Comments: 4
Kudos: 39





	1. Violet

"I don't understand why we even went to that party. It was no more fun than if we'd stayed in and played board games," Spencer complained. Not only had JJ and Penelope dragged him away from his nighttime reading, but they'd screwed up their usual night before school routine. Sure, the smile on Spencer's mother's face whenever she saw his friends taking him out to socialize was nice, but the party was a bust. The punch probably would have been fine if nobody had spiked it, but it seemed that most of the student body in attendance that night wanted to start their school year off hungover. "Are you even okay to drive?" 

"Spencer, you don't have a license and Garcia can't walk on her own, I'm kind of the only option. Besides, I didn't drink the punch, only had two beers, and got something to eat before we left," JJ reasoned with him. Rather than admit she was right, Spencer just sat back in the backseat of JJ's car and stared out the window as she drove towards the apartment complex he lived in with his mother. "Hey Spence, I'm gonna need you to make sure that Garcia gets inside her place." 

"Okay," Spencer agreed. JJ stopped to let them out and then sped home, wanting to make it before her dad came down to lock the gate. She was sure that he knew about the party, it'd been a tradition since he was in high school to go buck wild the night before school. JJ remembered hearing Roslyn coming home from that party at night. Their parents hadn't told either girl that they weren't allowed to go, but after what happened to Roslyn, Richard had gotten much more strict. 

"Stealth mode," JJ muttered to herself as she turned her car lights off. She got past the gate at the opening of their driveway and then parked her car about a quarter of the way down. That way, it was unlikely that her parents would be woken up by the sound of her car's engine or the closing of her car door. JJ snuck around to the basement window, which she had left open, and then climbed inside. She landed with a soft thud on a pile of blankets she'd laid out earlier and then made her way upstairs. 

JJ knew that her father would get the notification on his phone that their gate was open in just a few minutes, so she had to be fast. It was an every night ordeal, Richard not closing the gate when he got home from work. Sandy would go unlock the gate when she left to check on JJ's grandparents in the morning, it'd be locked again by the time that JJ got back from school, and she'd leave it unlocked, but shut for her dad when he got home. Since she'd gotten her license and own vehicle, that was the order of things at the Jareau home. 

As if on cue, just as JJ was pulling back the covers on her bed and turning off her TV, she heard the heavy footsteps of her father as he walked by. He paused by her door for a moment, but then kept walking down the stairs. JJ sighed in relief and changed out of what she'd worn to the party and into a pair of pajamas. Since he didn't check on her on his way down, JJ knew that her father would on his way up. JJ brushed her teeth and sprayed herself with perfume to get rid of any trace of alcohol on her body. It wasn't uncommon for Richard to invite JJ out to the garage for a beer after dinner, but JJ had rushed off to Garcia's after dinner, so he didn't that night. 

"Jenny?" Richard asked quietly as he pushed open his daughter's bedroom door. JJ's light was still on, so he had presumed that it was okay to come in. "How was game night?" 

"It was fun dad," JJ answered. She felt a little bad about lying to her dad, especially not that she was on good terms with him again. After Roslyn's suicide, the relationship between JJ and her parents had left a lot to be desired. As she got a bit older and dealt with her own grief, she realized that they had been trying to be there for her, but they had also just lost one of their children. "Forget to shut the gate again?" 

"I don't see how you can set the code from inside, but you can't shut it," Richard said as he sat down on the edge of JJ's bed. JJ was sitting at the vanity that she had painted with her sister whenever they were younger at their grandparents. "Are you nervous about tomorrow? I remember how crazy your sister would go before the first day, especially this one." 

"I think it's going to be a good year," JJ told her father. She turned to put her hairbrush away, so she didn't see the flash of fear in his eyes at what she said. "I should go to bed though. Night dad." 

"Night Jenny." Richard got up and walked out of JJ's room. He glanced over at her one last time before shutting the door and letting her get to sleep. 

* * *

Three quick knocks to JJ's door from her mother woke the teenager up like always. JJ checked the clock as she rolled out of bed. She didn't need to wake up whenever her mother left, but Sandy didn't trust JJ to wake up with her alarm after not using it all summer. Richard wouldn't be awake until after JJ was already supposed to be in school, so JJ just had to wake up at 5:45 whenever her mother left until it became a routine for her. Weekends were different though, JJ would either spend them at Garcia's or she'd roll out of bed and join her family at her grandparents' place around 1, just in time for lunch. 

"Morning sunshine," Sandy greeted her daughter. JJ rubbed her eyes and grumbled about how it was too early. "Eat up, you'll feel better then." 

"Promise?" JJ asked, her voice a little raspy. Sandy set a plate down in front of JJ and didn't move until the young blonde started to eat. JJ knew that her mother wanted to sit down and have some sort of little talk with her. Senior year was a big deal and a lot of pressure. It didn't help that this was the first school year that JJ was going to be off medication since the seventh grade. The old family psychiatrist had moved to Maine and the new one seemed to think JJ was too normal to need medication. "Mom, shouldn't you get going?" 

"Oh, yes, you're right." Sandy threw her hands up in a frazzled-looking motion and then turned on her heels to go. JJ finished her breakfast, ignoring the fact that her mother still shaped her pancakes like Minnie Mouse. It was sort of cute and caused JJ to be overcome with a wave of nostalgia. It was bittersweet, the fun memories of family breakfasts in the morning before school. Now, she had to go through the morning motions all by herself. The cartoons that she'd watch with Roslyn were replaced by a morning run. 

JJ plugged her earbuds into her phone and pressed shuffle on her phone. The music was blaring from the earbuds before they reached her ears. JJ's legs moved to match the beat of the song. She ran fast and hard, ignoring the burning in her legs and lungs. She would do this every morning, pushing herself to go longer and longer. On the outside, it looked like JJ was a dedicated athlete, but really she just wanted to reach a point where she didn't feel the emptiness of losing her first best friend. 

Roslyn had been the person JJ looked up to. JJ knew that she'd gotten lucky with Roslyn, who had always made sure that there was time for JJ. Whenever Roslyn had started playing soccer, she'd let JJ sit on the sidelines at her games and during the practices. Roslyn had been the person who JJ had gone to for everything, but now JJ didn't have that and even though it had been years, JJ couldn't help but to feel so lost sometimes when she was alone. Garcia and Reid were good about being there for her though whenever she'd have particularly bad moments. 

JJ turned herself around and ran back to her house. By the time she'd gotten inside, she had worked up a pretty good sweat. JJ dropped her clothes on the floor of her bedroom on the way into her bathroom. She double checked to make sure that she had set a towel by the shower before she turned on the water. JJ connected her phone to the Bluetooth speaker she kept in her bathroom and then stepped into the shower. As she washed away the sweat and grime from her run, JJ pretended that her sadness went along with it. With a content sigh, JJ turned off the water and stepped out of the shower. JJ stopped at her dresser to get some of her outfit for the day. 

There had once been a time whenever JJ had put a lot of effort into what she'd wear for the first day. That had been back before she had a car and went to parties. That was a time whenever she had rarely seen her classmates over the summer because she'd been at the farm riding horses most of the summer. Of course every weekend, she'd go into the city for a playdate with Garcia, and then eventually Reid too. Once she was dressed, JJ sat at her vanity to fix her hair and put on a little makeup. It'd be gone after gym class, but if she didn't put something on, Garcia was liable to do her makeup for her in the car on the drive to school. 

"Decent," JJ commented to herself. She slid the chair she'd been sitting in back and stood up to look over her ensemble fully. JJ looked good in her casual and simple, but not sloppy outfit. Her jeans were a light blue with a few small rips strategically placed. JJ had gone with a plain white long sleeved shirt that would have the sleeves halfway up her forearms by the time she got to her car. JJ turned off her speaker and went downstairs to grab her backpack and put on a pair of shoes. JJ smiled as she saw the new shoes her mother had bought her for school already sitting out. 

JJ grabbed her backpack and walked into the kitchen to get her water bottle and some snacks for during the school day. She made sure to grab one of the birthday cake protein bars for Reid, who never ate breakfast at his house because he was busy with his head in a book. Garcia always had breakfast, and would have at least one snack for both JJ and Reid to eat on one of their between class breaks. JJ grabbed Reid a bottle of Powerade on her way out of her house and then ran out to her truck so they wouldn't be late to school. Since she'd gotten her license, JJ had been Garcia and Reid's ride to school. Garcia didn't like having to wait for the bus or subway and people tended to pick on Reid when he used public transportation. 

Garcia and Reid were waiting outside in the parking lot for JJ when she got there. Reid got into the backseat and Garcia put her backpack next to him while JJ got the door for her. Once Garcia was settled in the passenger's seat, JJ shut the door for her and then walked around to her own side. JJ got in and buckled up, knowing that Reid was watching to make sure that she did. JJ glanced back at Reid in the rearview mirror and flashed him a smile. Much like he had whenever they had first met in middle school, he smiled at her excitedly. Not a lot had changed for their group since it had formed. Reid was literally wearing the same exact outfit he wore every single year: brown pants that had been ironed about a week ago, a light blue shirt, and a semi-ugly sweater vest that JJ had punched a guy for teasing Reid about freshman year. 

"Reid, are you buckled?" JJ asked as she placed her hand on the gear shift. 

"Yes, I am," Reid said and JJ shifted into drive. 

* * *

"They are really nice. Spencer can come off as a little odd, but he is super sweet and insanely smart. JJ is probably the nicest person you'll ever meet, unless you're mean to Reid or me," Garcia told Emily as they walked through the cafeteria. "I'm sure that they'll both welcome you into the group." 

"Even if they don't, thank you for trying," Emily said. Garcia frowned at that for a second, recognizing the self-deprecating comment from years of JJ and Reid both subtly doing it. "I don't expect myself to fit in here. I'm not even sure how long I'll be in DC for." 

"Well, while you are here, you're welcome to join the band of merry outcasts. Even though JJ could definitely be the queen of the school if she really wanted to," Garcia said as they sat down at the table. "Emily, this is Spencer Reid. Reid, where's JJ?" 

"I think she was talking to Will by the forks," Spencer said, not looking up from what he was writing in his notebook. Garcia cleared her throat and Spencer looked up, surprised to see Emily sitting across from him. "You were in my Advanced Literature class. Prentiss right, the ambassador's daughter?" 

"Emily Prentiss." Emily reached out to shake Spencer's hand. "What are you working on?" 

"Book analysis," Spencer answered. Just as he was returning to his paper, JJ came up behind him and shut his notebook. "I was working on that." 

"And now you're eating lunch. Hi, Jennifer Jareau, but you can call me JJ." JJ smiled politely at Emily as she sat down next to Spencer and across from Garcia. Spencer pouted for a couple of moments and then turned his attention to his food. "Are you new here? I don't think I've seen you before." 

"Oh yeah, my family moved back to DC after awhile. I'm Emily," Emily said, hoping that nobody caught the fact that her voice was slightly higher than normal. "It's nice to meet both of you." 

"I wouldn't speak so soon, Spence here hasn't told you about meat processing while you're trying to enjoy your chicken nuggets," JJ joked as she nudged Spencer. 

"I don't know why you're still upset about that because since then you have eaten at least 326 chicken nuggets," Spencer said and JJ rolled her eyes at him. "Not counting the ones on your plate or whatever you took from Will when you were talking. What I said didn't deter you in the slightest."

"So Emily, how long has it been since you've lived in DC?" Garcia asked Emily, hoping to deter JJ and Reid's little back-and-forth. 

"Well, we moved to Europe when I was like six, but I spent a summer around here when I was 14. I spent most of my time hanging out in federal buildings though with one of my old friends, Aaron," Emily answered. Garcia kept Emily talking until she stumbled upon something that Emily and the other could bond over.


	2. A Girl Like You

The news that Emily and her family were going back to America was bittersweet. Emily was excited about the prospect of getting to go to a normal school, even if it was for one year only. Emily's college applications had all been sent out already and it was assumed by her mother that Emily would be attending whatever school she was accepted into a semester before everybody else in her class. Emily also just wanted to leave Moscow. Russia was fun and getting to travel around Europe was a blast, but Emily had fucked up a good thing and now it was coming back to bite her in the ass. 

Whenever she had left the other countries where her mother was working, there had been a bit of a gathering party to send her away. Emily didn't have much of a problem making friends, at least she hadn't until Natalia. They had met in Rome and hit it off quickly. Their friendship was strong, so strong that it developed into something else. Natalia had went along with everything, but when the prospect of feelings arose, Natalia completely cut Emily off. It had been a hard blow for Emily to handle, especially on her own. Emily knew her mother wasn't homophobic, but that didn't mean that Emily would have been able to just live her life how she wanted to. The Prentiss name was an important one in politics and homosexuality wasn't welcome everywhere. 

"Where is your little friend?" Emily glanced up at her mother, hiding her reaction to the question. "Don't you normally have a few friends waiting for you when we leave?" 

"Natalia hasn't been around for some time mother," Emily told Elizabeth. It didn't surprise Emily that her mom didn't notice that Emily hadn't been hanging around anybody for the past month. "Can we just go?" 

"Eager for a fresh start?" Elizabeth asked rhetorically. Emily was sure that her mother wasn't trying to upset her, but the woman just had a slightly dismissive tone when it came to talking to her daughter. "Come on, the plane is waiting." 

Emily pushed herself out of the chair and followed her mother out to the car. The ride to the airport was quiet, nothing but the hum of the car and some Russian pop song playing quietly from the radio. Elizabeth was reading over emails on her phone, just like she always did in car rides. Emily wondered if whatever job she ended up with would consume her like her mother's did. Emily didn't want that, in fact, it terrified her. Elizabeth Prentiss was a successful woman who the world thought juggled it all, but Emily knew that it was not the case. 

Elizabeth's marriage had crumbled whenever Emily was young. Emily had memories of staying in DC with her dad for the first couple years of schooling before he ran off with another woman. From then on, Emily stayed with Elizabeth and the only time she heard from her father was when he sent her a birthday card. As Emily got older, she began to notice just how mentally taxing her mother's job was. Moving around had been hard on Emily and despite the fact that Elizabeth didn't always outwardly express her concern, Elizabeth worried what the toll was going to end up being on Emily. Emily remembered their last night in France, when the Prentiss women had splurged on a luxurious French dinner and Elizabeth, while drunk, had begun a rant on all the things she was afraid she'd done to fuck up Emily's mental state. 

"Ms. Prentiss, I was told to give this to you," the driver told Emily. He placed a necklace in her hand and Emily knew without looking where it had come from. Emily held onto the necklace and gave the driver a polite smile. It wasn't his fault that he had just unintentionally broken Emily's heart into a million pieces. Natalia could have kept the necklace or waited to get rid of it until after Emily was out of the country. Although, as Emily thought about it, she wouldn't want to know that there was a reminder of a broken friendship floating around her home. So, as Emily got settled on the private plane that was taking her and her mother back to DC, Emily kept her fist enclosed tightly around the necklace. 

* * *

"Where are you going?" Elizabeth asked Emily as the teenager raced down the stairs. Emily paused on her way to the front door and turned towards the couch where her mother was sitting. It was odd to see her mother watching daytime television, but Elizabeth's new position didn't start for another two weeks. That was why everything in the house had been unpacked and rearranged several times in the week they had been in the states. 

"Aaron invited me to the mall," Emily told her mother. 

"Aaron?" 

"Hotchner," Emily finished and Elizabeth perked up a bit. 

"Oh I like him, he's charming. Tell that boy that he is welcome to come inside and say hello when he is dropping you off," Elizabeth said, oddly chipper. Emily nodded and then walked outside to wait for her friend. He wouldn't be there for at least five more minutes, but Emily didn't feel like listening to why Aaron was such a nice guy from her mother. Yes, they were friends and had once dated before Emily had begun to figure herself out, but that ship had sailed. Whenever they had followed each other on Instagram and started talking again, Emily took notice of the very pretty girl, Haley, that he posted about. 

"Isn't it a bit hot out for all black?" Emily looked up at the sound of a voice in front of her. She smiled at Hotch as she stood up and walked over to his car. It was hotter than she had expected in DC, but Emily was committed to her image. Besides, she had at least worn black shorts and her shirt was a tank top, but the black shawl she had wrapped around herself and the large, sort of clunky boots did not do her any favors with the heat. 

"Maybe," Emily said as she got into his car. "What are you wearing?" 

"I was playing baseball this morning," Hotch told her. Emily hummed and turned her attention away from his shorts. The blue was dark enough to not be too distracting, but the neon orange and green on the sides did not get the same memo. "I got you something so you'll fit in better." 

Emily watched as Hotch grabbed the Nationals hat from off of his dashboard and handed it to her. She gave him a look to see if he was joking, which he wasn't. Emily wasn't going to wear it, not with her current outfit, or maybe ever, but she appreciated that he tried. Hotch knew that Emily didn't care about sports in the slightest, but she'd need something to wear whenever she decided to go to his games and support him. 

"I kept it in the sun so it'd get a little faded. I know that you like that kind of stuff," Hotch said and Emily smiled at him. Hotch drove them to the mall, where they got something to eat before going shopping. "Do you think you can help me get Haley a present?" 

"Did they run out of Nationals hats?" Emily joked. Hotch nudged her with his shoulder, nearly knocking her over completely. 

"Sorry," Hotch said, sort of awkwardly. "But seriously, can you help me get Haley something? I don't want to mess up." 

"Bracelet, come on I know where I get nice ones," Emily said and Hotch followed her. They went into one of the nicer jewelry stores in the mall and Hotch ordered a custom bracelet and set the delivery address to Haley's house. After that, they left the mall and Hotch showed Emily a couple of places where he liked hanging out around town if she ever got tired of staying in. "My mom wants you to come in and say hi." 

"Alright, I like your mom, she's always very nice," Hotch said and Emily rolled her eyes at him. "What?" 

"She think you're so nice Aaron," Emily said in a mocking tone. "Literally, the nicest boy I could ever come home with." 

"I'm probably the only boy you'll ever come home with," Hotch pointed out. Emily cackled at that, throwing her head back and clapping her hands. Hotch was probably the only one of Emily's friends, other than Natalia, that knew she liked girls. If Emily really thought about it, she was sure that Hotch was actually her only friend left.

* * *

Emily walked back from the cafeteria by herself. Garcia had left her to go with Reid to their next class and JJ had offered to walk Emily around. Emily had turned down JJ's offer, claiming that she knew the way to her next class. Besides, JJ was going straight to class and Emily had to stop by her locker. Emily put her textbooks from her morning classes into her locker and then carried her nearly-empty backpack upstairs to her next class. 

"Prentiss!" Hotch shouted from across the hallway. Emily paused and turned to see her old friend. He quickly moved towards her, pulling a girl behind him. "Emily, this is Haley. Haley, this is Emily." 

"Hi, it's nice to meet you," Emily said, amused by how excited Hotch was. 

"Hi, it's good to put a face to the name." Haley shook Emily's hand. "Are you in here?" 

"I am," Emily said and Haley kissed Aaron's cheek before walking into the class with Emily. "So, how long have you two been together?" 

"It'll be a year next weekend," Haley answered. "How long have you known Aaron?" 

"A really long time, but like, we haven't talked in a little while until recently." The two of them took their seats and chatted until the bell rang. Emily liked Haley, she obviously made Hotch happy and seemed nice. She just wasn't really sure how much they'd have in common. When that class was over, Hotch was standing outside of the classroom, waiting for the two of them. 

"Come on, we've got our next class together," Hotch told her. "Have you made any new friends yet?" 

"There's the girl who showed me around, Penelope and her friends, Reid and JJ," Emily said and Hotch nodded. "They seem nice. Do you know JJ? She's the only one who I didn't really get a chance to talk to at lunch." 

"We don't know each other super well, but she's a good person to just know. Even if you aren't super close, she'll look out for you. Haley likes her, they've done stuff for the pep club together before," Hotch explained. "She's got a boyfriend though, his name's Will." 

"I gathered that much at lunch," Emily told him. 

"Yeah, but you should remember that. She's not available, so try not to catch feelings."


	3. Sleep Now In The Fire

"Come on, everybody else's girlfriend goes to watch the practices," Will pleaded with JJ. The two of them had been standing in the parking lot for the past five minutes since school had let out. JJ knew that Will wasn't really asking much, he never really asked too much of her. He had been fine with her distancing herself since she'd been taken off of her medication. He had been fine with JJ spending her nights with her friends instead of going on dates with him. Will had been good about all that stuff because he felt like JJ had been good to him before. Now though, there were times when he wondered if she was really invested in their relationship anymore. 

"Okay, I'll be up there in a couple minutes," JJ said and Will leaned in to kiss her. JJ moved her head to the side a bit so that Will's kiss landed on her cheek instead of her mouth. Will frowned when JJ turned around and got into her car. 

"I'll see you up there," Will said and JJ nodded. He ran over to a teammate's truck and got in the bed, joining a few of his other teammates. 

"Sorry guys," JJ said as she turned to Garcia and Reid. "I'll drop you guys off real quick." 

"We could have walked home. It's not too long," Reid and JJ shook her head. "You don't have to drive us everywhere." 

"Reid, it's safer if I drive you," JJ pointed out. Garcia glanced at JJ, knowing the blonde felt bad about the couple of instances last year whenever she'd gotten sick and Reid had walked to and from school. It didn't help that Reid refused to accept the new copy of the book that had been ruined when some assholes threw Reid's backpack into a storm drain. Neither Garcia nor Reid decided to argue with JJ on that, especially since it was true. People may have been nice to JJ, but that curtesy was not normally extended to Penelope and Reid. 

JJ dropped off her friends and then promptly turned her car around back towards the school. At a stoplight, she connected her phone to her car's radio and pressed play on her favorite playlist. Immediately, she was filled with a familiar feeling as the opening riff of one of JJ's favorite songs started. It wasn't often that JJ could just sit in her car, listen to music, and think about nothing. Instead of getting that chance at relaxation, she was going to watch her boyfriend's football practice. JJ loved sports, she always had, but nobody really cared to watch the practices, they wanted the games. JJ would never have asked Will to go to a soccer practice, especially since she knew he barely paid attention to her games when he went. 

"You don't have to wait here. I'd be happy to drop you off at your place," Haley told Emily. "Aaron told me that you're not really interested in football. This gets boring for people who are interested." 

"If I get too bored, I'll call for a car I guess," Emily half-joked. Haley wasn't quite sure whether or not she was supposed to laugh at that. Emily's had good humor, but occasionally she'd joke about things that most people didn't really understand. 

"Most people say they'll get an Uber or Lyft," JJ said, spooking Emily a bit. Emily and Haley both turned to where JJ was leaning against the side of her car. Emily noted that JJ wasn't wearing the same outfit that she had been during lunch. JJ's skinny jeans were traded in for a pair of basketball shorts and her floral top had been traded in for a Patriots shirt with the sleeves and part of the bottom cut off. Emily would have been lying if she said that she didn't find JJ to be very attractive in that outfit. Well, she'd have been lying if she had said she didn't find JJ generally attractive. JJ was the kind of girl that Emily knew her mother would have liked her to be on some level: preppy, popular, and athletic. 

"I wasn't talking about those things. I shouldn't let strangers know where an ambassador's house is," Emily pointed out. JJ pushed off of the side of the car and walked over towards Emily and Haley. Haley joined the other cheerleaders and Emily followed JJ over to the bleachers. It took a whole 10 minutes for JJ to decide that she wanted to be absolutely anywhere else. 

"Wanna go get a pizza?" JJ asked Emily randomly. "There's this place that has like experimental-type shit. It's pretty cool." 

"Won't William get mad that you just left?" Emily asked and JJ shook her head. "Oh, that's very cool of him." 

"I just need to tell him that I got hungry," JJ said as she sent a text to Will. JJ stood up and offered a hand to Emily, who accepted it. The two of them walked back to JJ's car and on instinct, JJ got the door for Emily. 

"Oh, thank you." Emily sat down in the passenger's seat and JJ shut the door. She jogged over to the driver's side and opened the door. She slid into her own seat, buckled up, and then shut the door. JJ put her keys in the ignition and turned the engine on. For a moment, the car made a sputtering noise, but started right up. "I don't think your car is supposed to sound like that." 

"It's kind of old, but nothing I can't fix," JJ said with a wink. Emily turned her head away from JJ slightly and bit the corner of her lip. JJ switched on the radio, hoping that Emily liked whatever Garcia had put it to that morning. "I don't know what kind of music you like, so I hope this is okay." 

"It's definitely interesting," Emily said. She smiled as the song that Garcia had been humming during their homeroom came on. "I take it this is Garcia's station pick. Reid strikes me more as a classical kind of guy." 

"He definitely is and yeah, Garcia picked this station this morning," JJ answered. "I let them have full control over the radio when I drive. It doesn't really matter what's playing most of the time though, we tend to be a talkative little group." 

"It's nice to have people that you feel comfortable talking around." JJ glanced over at Emily, noting the slightly sad tone in her voice. Emily brushed it off quickly though, tapping her fingers to the beat of the song on her lap. 

"Garcia definitely likes you, and I think Reid does too. Sometimes it's hard to tell. If any of us overstep, just tell us," JJ said and Emily nodded. The two of them spent the rest of the ride in silence, but unlike the silences that Emily was used to, this one wasn't awkward or uncomfortable. Emily could tell that JJ was still trying to get a feel for her still. In a lot of ways, Emily was trying to get a feel for JJ too. The general consensus on JJ was that she was a nice and welcoming person, which Emily honestly had to agree with. "We're here!" 

"What is that smell?" Emily asked as she got out of JJ's car. It was definitely coming from the pizza place. JJ's face contorted a bit when it hit her, but she gave Emily a small smile and then walked into the pizza place. Once they were inside, an array of different scents hit them. It smelled like pizza, but also like some very distinct toppings. JJ grabbed Emily's wrist and gently pulled her over to a table. A waiter handed them menus and two cups so that they could get their drinks when they were ready. 

"What sounds good to you?" JJ asked Emily as they both flipped through the menu. "They don't really a whole lot of the same things from the last time I was here." 

"Well, what did you get?" Emily asked and JJ thought back on when Garcia had brought her there to pick up pizza for game night. 

"It was sort of like a regular pizza, but there were mozzarella stick bits on top," JJ told her. "I'm thinking of getting a slice of the Cheetos pizza and then we can share a dessert one if you'd like. The slices are pretty big here." 

"I guess that sounds good," Emily said as she flipped through the menu. Most of what she saw seemed too weird to actually be good. This was obviously a gimmick restaurant, something that was created to make Buzzfeed headlines and attract hipsters. Growing slightly frustrated with the lack of appealing choices, Emily huffed and just set the menu down. The same waiter from before walked over to them to take their orders. JJ gave hers first and then Emily just asked for a slice of cheese pizza and he walked off. There was a number card left at their table so that nobody took it while they were getting their drinks. 

"Sometimes Reid, Garcia, and I come here just to see if they got any new sodas in," JJ said as she looked at the selection. 

"Anything new?" Emily asked and JJ shook her head. JJ kept looking for something specific, exclaiming a little in excitement when she found it. Emily kept on looking at the selection until she stumbled upon something she'd tried in Prague, but never found anywhere else. 

"Is that any good?" JJ asked as she watched Emily get her drink. The color was off-putting to say the very least. Emily's mother had let her go to one of the factories where it was made and if not for the extra dye, it would have been a very nice and warm brown color, like a cider. Instead, there was a greenish tint to the brown that made it look a little sickening. 

"Once you get past the color, it's great," Emily told her. JJ nodded and led Emily back to their table. Minutes later, their pizza came and neither of them had to figure out a good conversation topic just yet. "There's a blueberry flavor that looks a lot nicer. It doesn't as strong of a flavor though." 

"Sometimes subtle flavors are nice," JJ said thoughtlessly. Emily could see a bit of distance behind her eyes as she stared off towards the window. Thinking that maybe someone was there, Emily turned around, but didn't see anybody from school. JJ's phone started to buzz, distracting both of them for a moment. 

"Sorry, I have to take this. It's Will," JJ said and Emily nodded. JJ slid away from their table and stepped outside. Emily watched as she paced around on the sidewalk. Emily felt a little guilty watching JJ, so she turned away and focused back on her pizza. It wasn't a simple cheese pizza. Yes, there was mozzarella, but there were also cheeses that Emily had definitely only eaten in France. 

She remembered that night well because it'd been the last one she spent there before her mother was moved to a new embassy. It was one of the few times that Emily and Elizabeth had genuinely enjoyed spending time with each other. Emily knew that her mother loved her, but it was difficult for the two of them to relate. Yes, Emily did what she could to be a daughter that her parents could be proud of, but there were definitely things that Emily knew she did that Elizabeth wished she wouldn't. But for that night, there was no tension between the Prentiss women at all and Emily had come out of that dinner with a greater understanding of the difficulties of trying to parent with her mother's job. 

"Hey, you okay?" JJ asked. Emily hadn't noticed that JJ had come back inside of the pizza place. For a moment, Emily wondered how long JJ had been there before saying something. She had to been there long enough to notice that something was weighing on Emily's mind. Taking a deep breath, Emily turned to where JJ was sitting back down in her chair. 

"I'm fine. The cheese got me thinking about a dinner I had with my mom in France before we left." Emily hadn't expected herself to have answered so honestly. She had known JJ for maybe a week and a half now, but the blonde had a trustworthy vibe and Emily had a knack for figuring out the vibes of other people. She had met a lot of genuinely scummy people and JJ wasn't one of them, nor was on the path to becoming one. "Nostalgia I guess." 

"Man, I almost forgot that you got to travel the world before getting stuck here," JJ said with a chuckle. "Is Europe nice?" 

"Very, the parts of it I stayed at. If you get the chance to see it, you should," Emily advised her. 

"And if I don't?" JJ asked. It was almost flirty, the tone of her voice and the way that she leaned in towards Emily a bit. 

"My mom's got a private plane that I'm sure I could get for a week or so." JJ leaned back a bit, unsure of whether or not Emily was being serious. Emily kept in her amusement at the sort of shocked look on JJ's face and just focused on finishing her pizza and soda. 

"I might just have to take you up on that." 

* * *

The call from her mother on her drive home that there was a gift waiting for her in the garage had excited JJ. Her parents, at least her father, knew that JJ's car had been making suspicious noises for the past month or so. JJ also knew that her parents had been helping her grandpa pick out a new truck to possibly get. JJ had gotten to be included on the conversation a few times, and she'd helped them decide on one at a smaller lot that wouldn't be as expensive as one from the city. So, yes, JJ had sped home to see if the old truck was in the garage waiting for her. 

"Hell yeah," JJ muttered as she saw the truck sitting there. She'd be getting a paint job, maybe a nice sky blue or possibly a glossy black. The old and faded red may have been aesthetically pleasing on the farm, but JJ was not planning on keeping it there. Even if the gas mileage sucked on the truck, she could use it until her dad told her what she needed to fix her own car. JJ turned the truck on and almost immediately noticed that it'd need new headlights. When she went to take it for a little spin, she noticed that the tires also were starting to need to be replaced. 

The garage had headlights somewhere. JJ remembered her dad talking about bringing in the truck to try and keep it in good shape. It was older, but it was also a genuinely nice vehicle. The new headlights were sitting in the box, unopened. JJ contemplated waiting a while and just buying some LEDs whenever she had the time, but if she needed to go out at night, she wanted a more trustworthy vehicle than her car. JJ popped the hood of the truck and felt around the front until she hit the headlight holder. She leaned down a bit to make sure she properly disconnected the wires before taking out the old bulb. She put the new ones in and reconnected all the wires that had to be reconnected. Once she finished the first side, she walked over and changed out the other side's headlights. 

"Can we talk about earlier?" Will asked, spooking JJ a bit. She didn't jump, but if she had, she definitely would have hit her head on the hood of her new truck. 

"We can if you help me move some tires," JJ said and Will nodded. JJ led Will towards the back of the garage. Really, it was more like a warehouse or a really big shed that her dad used to fix their cars and the farm equipment when it needed to be fixed. "What's up?" 

"You blew off my practice to get pizza with that new girl," Will said and JJ sighed. "You promised me you'd come." 

"I did, I was there for a bit. I got hungry Will and Emily doesn't have a lot of friends here. I was hoping that maybe I could be one more of them. I am sorry if me leaving early upset you," JJ apologized. Will grit his teeth a little bit, but he just nodded in acceptance. He knew that JJ was legitimately sorry for blowing him off, but he also knew that it'd most likely happen again. Will tried to make JJ a priority, but lately, it didn't feel like JJ wanted Will to be one of her top priorities. 

"It's fine. You don't have to tell me that it won't happen again because it will, but that's fine. This is a rough time for you," Will said and JJ cleared her throat awkwardly. 

"Let's just, move these tires okay?" JJ suggested and Will nodded. JJ pointed Will in the direction of the tires that she was sure were meant for the truck and the two of them moved them together. JJ probably could have gotten them all herself, but since Will was there and willing to help her, she'd take him up on that. 

"I'm gonna head out if you don't need any more help," Will said and JJ nodded. She waved at him and then got the jack ready. Will sighed and walked away from her. Once Will was gone, JJ put some music on from her phone and then got to work. It was simple, she just did what her father had taught her to do before she'd even started driving. They had been driving back from an Eagles game and despite their animosity after the Patriots had won that game, Richard had requested that JJ be there for the teachable moment. 

It was easier to do now than it had been then. JJ could move the tires easier and she'd gotten more experience with the jack and wrenches. She had built up strength and experience in the four years since that night. JJ had also taken more of an interest in building and fixing things. Whenever her dad would work late, she was the one who helped her mother. JJ had even taken shop class her junior year and impressed the teacher with her ability to use the correct tools. 

Even after JJ had finished fixing the tires on the truck, she stayed in the garage. It was obvious whose section was whose. Most of it was her father's or grandfather's, but there was a little area that was just hers. She kept her tools there, both the ones she bought to actually use and the ones that she had bought because she thought they looked cool. Of course if she needed them, she would use them, but those ones weren't as commonly used as the others. JJ sat back in the wooden chair that she'd build with her dad and Roslyn. It had been a rough process, but JJ was proud of what they'd built together. Especially since it was one of the last memories she had of getting to do something with her sister. 

"Hey kiddo," Richard greeted as he walked into the garage. "Those new tires?" 

"They are," JJ said as Richard kicked one of them to check it. "Can you not kick my handiwork please?" 

"Can't have my little girl driving around on loose tires," Richard said and JJ scoffed. 

"If they're loose it's because you didn't teach me how to tighten correctly," JJ pointed out. Richard ruffled JJ's hair and looked at the letters carved into the back of the chair JJ was sitting in. 

"You two were so proud when the chair was done." Richard smiled fondly at the memory. 

"You yelled at us more that day than you had our entire lives," JJ chuckled. "And then you lost it when we signed the chair." 

"An artist always leaves their signature." Richard's smile fell a little as he repeated what Roslyn had told him. "She told me it was her idea at first so I wouldn't get mad at you." 

"And I said it was a team effort. I think you were angrier about us using that burning tool to do it," JJ speculated. Richard nodded as he leaned against the truck. 

"I'd hug you to close out this nice moment, but you're sweaty and you smell like rubber," Richard said and JJ rolled her eyes at him. "Quick beer before we head in for dinner?" 

"That'd be nice," JJ said and Richard walked over to grab a couple bottles from the mini-fridge in the corner. Richard handed one to JJ and they stood there and drank together, both of them thinking silently about that day to themselves.


	4. I Think I'm Paranoid

Emily had finally begun to get comfortable at her new school. Garcia, Reid, and JJ were beginning to feel more like actual friends instead of people that she'd just met. Hotch made sure that she knew he was there for her, but he also gave her enough room to figure things out herself. Haley was sweet, even if Emily couldn't see herself hanging around the cheerleader that often. Hotch had offered to introduce Emily to some of his friends, but Emily politely declined, deciding that it was better if she found her own people. Besides, Emily doubted that Hotch's friends were closet emo kids like he was. That was sort of the basis of Hotch and Emily's friendship. That, and the fact that they'd been close during their private school days. 

"Hey! You Prentiss?" Emily turned her head to see a guy waving at her. She recognized him from a picture in Hotch's locker of the baseball team. He had mentioned him once, Morgan. Emily recognized his voice as the one that would randomly greet girls with "Hey mama" which she found ridiculous. "Derek Morgan. We're partners for this packet. You can pick the book we do it on, but I circled a few suggestions." 

Emily nodded as she took the list and looked over it. Most of those books were either really long or really boring. Much like Reid, she had already read quite a few of the books on their required reading list already. As Emily's eyes scanned over the paper for something interesting, she noticed that Slaughterhouse 5 was circled. She hummed to herself and set the paper down, deciding that they'd do that one because it was genuinely one of her favorite books. 

"Slaughterhouse 5?" Emily asked for confirmation. 

"Yeah, that's a good one. Have you read it?" Derek asked and Emily nodded. "Did you like it?" 

"It's probably one of my favorites. I love Vonnegut," Emily told him. "I could probably answer most of the questions on this without having to look at the book again." 

"Cool, then it'll be a breeze," Derek said with a smile. Emily had to admit that Derek was attractive. If she was being completely honest with herself, he couldn't have been single. Girls were falling over themselves to be around him in the hallways when he walked through. It had sort of put a bad taste in her mouth to watch them fawning over him, but now that they were in a closer proximity, she sort of got it. "Have you read his other books?" 

"Of course, but Slaughterhouse as first," Emily and Derek nodded. "Have you?" 

"Hotch and I normally kept a book or two to read when we ran on the treadmills." Derek ducked his head down, like he was slightly embarrassed by doing that. "It's a bit more of a challenge that way, but it's fun I guess. Good way to make sure I keep up with my reading." 

"I wouldn't know, I hate running," Emily said plainly. Derek chuckled a little at that. The two of them kept their conversation going as they worked on their packet, finishing it up before Reid and his partner had. The shocked look on Reid's face as Emily and Derek turned in their assignment before he did was more than enough to amuse both of them. 

"I think that may make you my best friend," Derek said as they started to pack their things up. There wasn't more than a couple of minutes before the bell and if you moved fast enough, you wouldn't get caught in the sea of students trying to get to their next class as slowly as possible without being late. "As long as you don't tell Hotch." 

"Lucky you, I'm good at keeping secrets." 

"For real though, it'd be nice to have someone to hang out with and talk to. I know it's not easy being the new kid," Derek said and Emily thought over his offer. Emily had never had a friend like Derek, but she was pretty sure that she'd like to. 

"That would be nice. Uh, here's my number," Emily told him as she started writing it down. 

* * *

Hotch didn't understand how the hell he had beat Emily back to her house. Whenever he had asked her if she was busy after school, Emily had told him that she'd be going straight home after school. Hotch had made a stop to pick up a cup of coffee for Emily and then came straight to her house. Elizabeth had been there and told him that Emily had left with one of her friends just minutes before Hotch got there. Despite leaving, he decided that he'd stay and wait for her. Besides, Emily had sent him a text that said she'd be back from the library quickly. Forty minutes later and Emily was carrying in a bag from a book store that he'd dropped off some Spencer kid at before. 

"Have fun?" Hotch asked and Emily rolled her eyes at him as they walked upstairs to her room. 

"Yeah, it was great. Spencer showed me a few books in Russian that he thought I'd like, Garcia convinced me into getting this science fiction romance series, and JJ let me get her a book," Emily said. Hotch noticed that when Emily started talking about JJ, her voice went up a little. It wasn't too noticeable, but Hotch had an inkling that maybe Emily liked JJ. He would have to talk to Derek about possibly getting a GSA pamphlet put into Emily's locker. The meetings didn't start for another couple of weeks at least, but Emily would be able to find people like her there. The school didn't have a huge LGBT+ population, but there were some kids who nobody really knew about unless they went to a meeting. 

"JJ, huh?" Hotch asked. He shifted from one foot to the other, tilting his body to face more towards Emily's bookshelf. Emily was a naturally neat person, she liked things to be tidy. Her room was absolutely no exception. Hotch and JJ weren't super close, but he remembered when they worked on a project together and JJ was a lot more inclined to spread things out. She would put efficiency over cleanliness pretty much every single time. "You guys have been spending a lot of time together. Have you met Will yet?" 

"I've only hung out with JJ once alone. The other times have been with Garcia and Reid. To answer your question, I have not met William yet and I do not really plan to, why?" Emily questioned Hotch. He smirked at her and looked down at her rug, kicking up the corner of it. "No. I am not interested in JJ. She's my friend Hotch, I don't date my friends." 

"You dated me," Hotch pointed out and Emily scoffed. "We went on four dates and you kissed me like three times. Once even in front of your mother." 

"Hotch, two of those dates were you walking me to the food trucks outside of the building because my mom was scared that I'd get snatched and your dad wanted you to be a gentleman." Emily crossed her arms over her chest and spun around on her heels before walking over to her bed. She flopped down against the neatly made bed and moved her arms to behind her head. "I mean, JJ is pretty, yes, but so is Garcia. There are tons of pretty girls here, but I'm not here to date. I'm here to graduate." 

"That's what we're all here to do, but we're also living our lives. We're dating people and making friends. You've made friends. Derek told me that the two of you geeked out over Vonnegut. Nobody else does that with him. By making friends and forming different relationships, we're making impacts in each others lives. That's what's important at the end of the day, not a piece of paper saying you completed one round of school so you can go to another." 

"You practice that one in the car before you came in?" Emily joked and Hotch kneeled down in front of her. 

"I wouldn't be here if you weren't impactful on my life Emily. I want to make sure that you're getting to do all of the fun things that come with being in high school while you still can," Hotch told her. Emily rolled onto her stomach and kissed Hotch's forehead. 

"I'm fine Aaron. Thank you for checking up on me."

* * *

For the next couple of days, Emily decided to set aside some focus on making sure that she was developing her friendships. Derek offered to pick Emily up in the mornings if Hotch couldn't and Emily would buy him breakfast when they stopped. She talked to Reid about things that only he'd really get and the two of them would end up telling jokes to each other in Russian while they waited outside of the English classroom. Emily took Garcia's invitation for a girls' night with her and JJ. Emily wasn't really sure how to further her bond with JJ, but Derek assured her that it would happen, even if it took awhile. Everything was starting to look up, and then Emily found the pamphlet in her locker. 

Nobody knew that Emily was a lesbian. Hotch knew that Emily was attracted to women, but Emily never said that she was exclusively a lesbian. Her mother didn't even really know, not that Elizabeth paid enough attention to notice. Emily had thought she was keeping that secret well. She wasn't ashamed of it, but she was definitely wasn't cool with somebody taking it upon themselves to publicly assume that she was. 

"You good?" Derek asked. Emily jumped and Derek caught the pamphlet before it hit the ground. "GSA, hope to see you there when the meetings start up. It's a bit hectic, our last president graduated and our nominee isn't taking it." 

"You're in the GSA?" Emily asked, a bit surprised. "Are you..." 

"Bisexual, don't worry, you're not the only one who is surprised," Derek said and Emily nodded slowly. "Elle Greenaway was our last president." 

"I've seen that name," Emily said and Derek walked her over to the little athletics trophy display. Right in the center of the track and field section was a picture of a girl with the name "E. Greenaway" etched into the bottom. Emily had to admit that Elle was hot, definitely someone who she'd have been interested in but too intimidated to talk to. "Where is she now?" 

"Some college in New York offered her a scholarship and didn't look into any of the fights she'd gotten on while here," Derek said. That definitely piqued Emily's interest, the principal had mentioned a no tolerance fighting policy. Emily looked over at Derek and he seemed to know the question burning on her tongue. "Most of them were kids picking on other members of the GSA. It wasn't until guys like Will, Hotch, and I showed up that they started to stop. If there's anybody who was more protective over Reid than JJ, it was Elle. JJ normally told Elle about the kids who picked on Reid actually." 

"JJ may be sort of small, but she looks like she's got more muscle than your track girl," Emily pointed out. 

"Don't judge a book by its cover. We should get going, bell's probably gonna ring soon." Derek glanced down at his watch and Emily shut her locker. Derek set the pamphlet inside of Emily's backpack by her notebooks and the two of them walked towards their last class of the day.


	5. Bullet With Butterfly Wings

_Saturdays are for the boys._ Will had told her that whenever they'd first started dating each other. In all honesty, JJ was glad that he had, somewhat, stuck to that. That would free up JJ's entire Saturday. Most weekends, she would really see Will unless he joined her family for a Sunday dinner. Saturday was the day Will would hang out with his friends and normally they'd go to someone's house and get a little drunk. JJ didn't actually care to know what Will was doing then, just as long as it didn't endanger his or anybody else's life. Sunday morning, Will went to church with his family and sometimes JJ's family would be there too. JJ never went though, she didn't really see the importance of it if she was being honest. If JJ's family went, Will would come over after church and try to spend some time with JJ. Maybe this would be one of those weekends where he spent Sunday with her, but today was Saturday and she was earning the money to get a new paint job for her truck. 

"Jenny," Richard said to get the attention of his daughter. "Pop's got a question for you. So, why don't you go up to the house. You've worked enough today." 

"Okay, thanks Dad." JJ hopped down from the trailer where she'd been helping her cousins load up feed bags. She ran up to the house, glad that she was both already sweating and that she hadn't stopped running every morning. She remembered whenever she had been younger and all of her cousins would try to race up to the house from the fields. Roslyn was normally one of the first back to the house. JJ knew that her sister had been the fastest out of the whole lot. Still, Roslyn would always stop if JJ fell too far behind her. JJ wished that Roslyn would have still been there so that maybe JJ could find out if Roslyn still was the fastest. 

JJ wondered if Roslyn would have had kids. Their cousin Isaac was a couple years younger than Roslyn and he had three kids already. One of those kids was even old enough to play in the fields. None of their other cousins had kids, but JJ knew that Jessica and her husband were trying now that they got married. Nobody in her family had ever really been overly religious until after Roslyn died. Suddenly, it was like all of them had something to come to terms with in the eyes of a man who JJ doubted actually existed. Sure there was probably something out there, but she was sure that there was a scientific explanation for it that Reid would rattle off to her if he hadn't already. 

"Dad said you wanted to ask me something," JJ said as she walked inside of the house. With a grunt, her grandfather got out of his chair and made his way over towards JJ. 

"You get yourself cleaned up. I can hear those boys taking the four wheeler all up and down, haven't seen you in once. You're done for the day." JJ nodded and leaned down to untie her boots. They stayed, she didn't really have a use for them away from the Jareau Family farm. 

"Thank you Papa John," JJ said as she ran upstairs to take a shower. She picked her clothes out of the bedroom that she used to sleep in when she stayed over and then rushed to the bathroom. She locked the door and then turned the water on. Unlike at home, she had to be quick, but she also didn't want to feel gross when she met with Derek. He had texted her about meeting at one of their houses before he had to go hang out with the football guys. JJ finished her shower, told Derek to meet at her house, and then started the drive home herself. 

JJ could have made the drive with her eyes closed. She'd ridden over to her grandparents' farm hundreds of times. Whenever her father was teaching her how to drive, that was the route they had started her on. She knew the curves like the back of her hand. As JJ came up on a little series of curves that wrapped around a hill, she wondered what it would have been like if she'd just let go of the wheel. She knew that the car would run off the road and she'd end up either in a ditch or rolling down one of the hills until she landed in a field. With a quick shake of her head and a firm press on the gas pedal to accelerate, she pushed those thoughts out of her head and focused on getting to her house. 

"Sorry for the wait," JJ said as she greeted Derek. He was waiting at the gate, sitting on the hood of his car. "Have you been out here long?" 

"Not really, and it's fine. It is nice out here, definitely a good place to buy some land and maybe build a house," Derek said as he looked around. "It's quiet and not too far out of the city." 

"My dad thought so too," JJ said as she unlocked the gate and pushed it open. They both got back into their cars and Derek parked behind JJ. Derek seemed to be admiring the architecture of JJ's house as she led him inside. 

"This is a really nice house. Are you sure that it's okay the team comes over?" Derek asked and JJ nodded. 

"Yeah, the alcohol and stuff will be outside already. There are tons of coolers in the shed that my dad has accumulated, there's a firepit, and I doubt that it'll get too hectic." JJ sat back on the couch and propped her feet up on the coffee table. "So, like, there isn't really a whole lot to worry about. My parents are gonna be gone for the night for their anniversary trip, Will mentioned that you know a guy who can take care of the ice situation, and apparently it's tradition for underclassmen to provide the alcohol in exchange for being allowed to come and hang out." 

"Not all traditions should be looked at too closely," Derek told her. JJ remembered what it had been like playing JV soccer her freshman year. Whenever the team had their big party at the end of the season, the varsity girls had tried to pawn off a lot onto the JV players. She hadn't participated in any of it, instead she had gone over to Garcia's for a movie marathon. 

"Will's already warned me about the hazing." JJ rolled her eyes as she thought about the things her boyfriend had told her. For a group of guys who had looked down on the GSA club, they had a lot of homoerotic tendencies. "None of you have room to call a girl weird ever again." 

"I guess that takes care of the party stuff," Derek said as he checked the notes on his phone. 

"You can hang out here if you want for a bit. It's been awhile since we've talked," JJ suggested. It wasn't that they didn't like each other, but they ran in different social circles. JJ went out of her way to be friendly with everybody unless they'd done something to deserve different and while Derek was a generally nice guy, he kept to himself a bit more than what was expected. JJ rarely saw him hanging around anybody who wasn't Hotch, or, as of late, Emily. 

"It has. So, anybody find out about you being a Patriots fan yet?" Derek asked JJ. 

"No, surprisingly. It's getting pretty hard to hide from my parents though. Especially after they beat the Steelers last weekend. I'd ask how the Bears are doing, but it can't be all that good." 

"Cold, Jareau, very cold." JJ laughed at Derek's reaction a little and the two of them fell into a conversation about their Superbowl predictions. JJ hadn't gotten to have a conversation like that in a long time with anybody. Elle had liked sports, but she wasn't interested in football. Garcia had tried to watch a few football games with JJ, but after awhile, it became hard for her to even pretend that she was interested. JJ had her dad to watch games with, but she couldn't outwardly support the Patriots without knowingly causing a family squabble. So, she realized how much she had missed having a reason to hang out with Derek Morgan.

* * *

The creator of Sunday morning practice definitely belonged in hell. JJ liked using her Sundays to sleep in before she rolled up to the IHOP around 11 or so for a pancake brunch. Instead, Jennifer Jareau had pulled herself out of bed at 4:25 to make sure that she was up and ready for her 5 AM practice. JJ was no stranger to early mornings, but she had stayed up until about 11:30 or so at night trading memes with Derek Morgan. If it wasn't for Will's text reminder that she had EARLY practice, JJ probably wouldn't have been to sleep until after midnight. 

"Come on, I wanna see some hustle! Work off that morning rust!" Coach Strauss yelled at the girls. JJ took a deep breath and started to run a little harder. She was already way ahead of most of the other girls, but there was one not too far behind her. JJ knew that she was either a sophomore or a junior. For a moment, JJ felt sort of bad about not having taken the time to get to know the girl last year. 

Although, if JJ remembered correctly, she had been the girl making heart eyes at Reid during the games. It wasn't that JJ didn't trust her, but she was protective over Spencer. He was incredibly awkward and didn't always get social cues like everybody else did. JJ knew that it wasn't right for her to prematurely judge this girl because she had a crush on Spencer. So, JJ slowed down a bit and gave the girl a chance to catch up. 

"Hi, I'm JJ," JJ introduced herself. 

"Ashley Seaver," the tall teenager said. JJ shook her hand and the two of them kept running together. "How do you think the teams will shape up this year?" 

"I think Strauss will have a field day with drills whipping everybody into shape," JJ said and Seaver sighed. "You'll do fine though. You're keeping up with me, way ahead of everybody else." 

"You're gonna be gone at the end of the year and that's gonna be a tough spot to fill. I'm not saying that it's gonna be me next year captaining the varsity team, but I'd like to throw my hat in the ring," Seaver said. JJ was impressed that the girl was thinking that far ahead, even if she was overlooking the actual duties that one had to fulfill to be captain. Strauss called an end to the running and had the girls pair up to run passing drills. That was where JJ and Ashley were separated. JJ didn't mind though, she thought it was important to form a connection or bond with everybody on the team, whether they'd play together or not. 

"Jareau!" Strauss yelled, drawing JJ's attention away from the drill. JJ jogged over to the coach and took the opportunity to get a tiny cup of water to drink. 

"Yes coach?" JJ asked as she sipped on her water. 

"For scrimmage, I want you in midfield. Go pick your color," Strauss said and JJ nodded. She ran off to pick out the color for her team. Scrimmages were one of JJ's favorite parts of practices. It gave her a chance to get into her element and there weren't repercussions if she was on the losing side. Sure, there'd be laps because Strauss didn't want any weak links on her roster, but it wasn't as bad as if they'd lost an actual game. 

JJ's team was waiting for her when she got back and she couldn't complain too badly. Her defense was mainly freshman, but she'd gotten Seaver as a forward and Tara Lewis as her goalkeeper. JJ set up a good formation and trusted Tara to take care of her backline while she was on the attack. Seaver proved to be fast and definitely wasn't afraid to run through a defense. There were a few times when JJ felt like yelling at the taller girl about passing around the defense instead of literally running through them, but since Seaver made the goals, she'd let it slide. It wasn't how JJ played forward, but JJ wasn't on forward. 

"Set up for a corner!" Strauss yelled and the teams set up for a corner. JJ watched as the ball was crossed from the corner. It curved and JJ saw a chance to try and head it into the goal, so she took it. JJ pushed herself up into the air a little more by pushing on one of her teammate's shoulders and the ball flew beautifully into the back of the net. Strauss blew her whistle to end the scrimmage and JJ called her team in for a celebratory huddle while the losing team started their laps. 

"That was great guys, really," JJ told them. "If you guys keep that up, you'll be starters for sure." 

"What can they work on?" Strauss asked JJ and Tara. 

"Backline needs to make safer tackles. Not every ref is going to be lenient," Tara told the backline. "Don't have openings in the center either, making them move around you." 

"Defense can start in the midfield, don't be afraid to pressure the other forwards," JJ told the girls who had been in the midfield with her. Then, she turned to Seaver, who had acted as the lone frontwoman on the field. "You won't always be the only one up top. Even if you are, try to find other attacking players instead of just running by their defenders. That's not always going to be your best option, so learn to get creative." 

"Good, you are free to go," Strauss said and the girl split up. 

"Damn, you were really on that feedback," Tara said as she pulled JJ towards her. "We are gonna kill it this season." 

"No doubt about it," JJ agreed. JJ took a quick shower and then changed into a pair of clean shorts and an old shirt that she'd "borrowed" from Reid. 

"Do you have a moment?" Seaver asked JJ as the older blonde walked out to her truck. 

"That really depends," JJ answered as she opened up her door. "What do you need?" 

"I was wondering if maybe you had free time to help me with extra practices. Even just like some advice on how to be better would be appreciated. Please?" Seaver asked JJ. 

"Yeah, um, tomorrow meet me in the parking lot before school and I'll give you my number. We can work out a schedule that way and you can just ask me questions as you think of them," JJ offered. 


	6. Panic

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Song: Panic by The Smiths

Derek panted as he ran past the sign for his street. When Derek had started his run, dawn was just starting to break. Now, the sun was shining bright in the morning sky. He checked his watch as he came up to his house. Sarah should have been getting out of the bathroom if he timed his run right, so he could just go straight upstairs and shower. On the off chance that he was back a bit early, he could stop and get a drink of water before he went upstairs to get his clothes ready for the day. 

"Good morning Mom," Derek greeted his mother happily. She looked up from her cup of coffee and smiled at her son. 

"Have a good run Derek?" she asked him. Derek had been really been pushing himself lately to make sure that he was ready for whenever scouts came to his games. Derek had been a started since his growth spurt the summer before his sophomore year, but the coach had a tendency of putting his fairer skinned players on the field when big scouts were looking. Derek had been putting in the work and proving that he deserved the same opportunities as everybody else though. 

"Got in three miles. When marathons start up in the spring, I really think that I could medal." Every spring, Derek would suit up with the athletic kids in the GSA and go run marathons or 5Ks to raise money. Just as Derek was about to say something else, Sarah came downstairs, momentarily distracting him. Derek realized for a moment how sweaty he was and quickly ran upstairs for his shower.

The shower gave Derek a little extra time to think about things like school. His grades were good, but he did need to study for his science test at the end of the week. There hadn't been many grades in for that class, so this test would have a bigger impact than later ones. If Derek did well in the beginning of the semester, then he'd have a better cushion for when things were staggered out due to holidays and snow days. Derek would try to keep his grades up the best he could, but sometimes things came up and he didn't want to let himself get overwhelmed later. 

"Ah!" Derek exclaimed as the water began to turn cold. It had taken him by surprise and he'd have to have a word with Sarah about using up all of the hot water whenever she took her showers in the morning. Derek turned the water off and dried himself off as he stepped out of the shower. His clothes sat on the rack by the sink. He quickly dressed himself and made his way downstairs as Sarah got ready to leave with some of her friends. "You don't need a ride do you?" 

"No I do not, but thanks," Sarah answered. Derek grabbed his backpack and left his house to go pick up Emily. There was just enough time to stop and get coffee before they had to be in school. 

"Good morning," Derek greeted Emily. He seemed to be a bit more of a morning person than Emily was. "Late night?" 

"Sort of. I ended up staying up until about 1 trading Russian memes with Reid," Emily said as she yawned. "Can we get coffee?" 

"Yeah, I was headed that way anyways," Derek said. Emily got out of the car to get their drinks and came back a couple of minutes later carrying their coffees. Technically, Derek's was half hot chocolate/half coffee. Emily wasn't opposed to getting sweeter coffees if they were frozen, but for her normal morning coffee, she just got a straight black cold brew. "Russian memes, huh?" 

"Sometimes, certain sayings only work in their native languages." Emily sipped on her coffee as Derek drove. Derek had tried the coffee that Emily got before and while he was appreciative of a black coffee, he also understood the importance of sugar. Emily took her coffee strong, almost so strong that it didn't even taste that good to normal people. 

"You and JJ are friends right?" Derek asked and Emily nodded. 

"We aren't super close, but we have hung around each other before. I'd like to think we're friends," Emily answered. Derek nodded and Emily stared at him for a moment, unsure of his sudden interest in her other blossoming friendships. "Why?" 

"There is going to be a party after the last football game. It's not going to be a rager or anything, but like, we want our friends to be there. It's at JJ's house and I can totally drive you there and back, I won't be drinking. Even if I can't take you back for some reason, I want to make sure that you two know each other so you could probably stay there," Derek explained. Emily nodded as she took in the invitation and extra bit of information. She hadn't been to a party in a long time and while she knew it'd be different than what she had experienced in Europe, she was excited about getting to go to an American high school party. 

"Yeah, that sounds fun. I think I'd really like to go," Emily agreed. Derek smiled at her and there was something childlike in his excitement. Emily liked hanging around Derek, he was, admittedly, a lot more fun than Hotch. 

"Great, I'll just take you there when the game's done." 

* * *

Emily sat with her head buried in her textbook. It was stupid that Emily hadn't been able to take a higher psychology class with the school. She had already learned all of the information in the class that she was taking. Luckily, her teacher understood that she was pretty advanced in the class already and just sent her to the library to do her assignments at her own pace. For the most part, Emily had already filled out most of her actual worksheets and was just getting a head start on the vocabulary sheets that she had to turn in with her tests. Emily was so focused on the busywork that she hadn't noticed that Penelope had come over until after the blonde was clearing her throat to get the brunette's attention. 

"Sorry," Emily apologized as she looked up at her friend. 

"No need to apologize. At least you looked up when I cleared my throat. Reid puts his hand in front of my face when I do that," Garcia said, blue eyes downcast towards the table. "What are you working on?" 

"Psychology vocab, nothing I actually need to get done now," Emily assured Garcia. "What are you in here for?" 

"It's supposed to be like a study skills class, but I normally just take naps and stare at that delicious piece of man meat," Garcia said as she nodded towards where Derek was tutoring underclassmen. 

"You should talk to him. He's different than what I expected," Emily said and Garcia shook her head. "Why not?" 

"Derek is nice, yes, and he flirts back when I flirt with him, but he's not going to go for someone like me. It isn't that likely," Garcia said sadly. Emily furrowed her brows and crossed her arms over her chest. 

"That's ridiculous, you are like, the best catch I've ever come across. Derek would be lucky to have you, he's single. Did JJ tell you about that party?" Emily asked and Garcia nodded. "Try your luck there Pen, I can talk you up to him if you'd like. We get coffee every morning, I'd like to think that I can read him pretty well by now." 

"How do you know he doesn't like you?" Penelope asked and Emily started laughing. "Okay, no. You don't get to talk me up and put yourself down." 

"It's not that, I know that I can be pretty fucking hot. Penelope Garcia, you wonderful, gorgeous tech genius, I can assure you that Derek is not my type. Derek knows that, I know that, it's just not going to happen," Emily told Garcia. 

"What is your type? You've been here for awhile now and you have not had a single date my dear," Garcia pointed out. 

"I don't know. I mean, I definitely like girls, but my last relationship was kind of a disaster. I'd really have to trust someone to give it another shot," Emily said and Garcia hummed. "Do you have someone in mind?" 

"No, but I think that you should totally come over to my place for a girls' night sometime. Reid sometimes comes down, but he always leaves whenever JJ tries braiding his hair or I get out my makeup. JJ would totally love it if you came over. We're having one on Thursday, you can have your sexy chauffer drop you off at 6." 

"I'll be there," Emily promised and Garcia clapped her hands together in celebration. "Do I need to bring anything?" 

"JJ will bring pizza or something, I've got refreshments and movies. Don't worry about anything, just bring yourself," Garcia told Emily.

* * *

JJ sighed as she dried off her hair with one of Garcia's towels. Strauss had been extra angry with the girls during practice that afternoon. To make matters worse, JJ had been late dropping Reid off at some book store and Strauss had called into question whether JJ was really prepared to be the varsity team captain. It wasn't that JJ expected that position to just fall into her lap, but she had worked so hard to prove to Strauss how capable she was for the role. For Strauss to hold that over her head like that was nothing less than cruel in JJ's eyes. Sometimes JJ wished that Strauss would just decide that coaching the soccer team was too much for her and let it fall to someone else. 

"Em's here!" Garcia shouted and JJ opened the door to the bathroom. She walked out into the small hallway and offered the brunette a small smile. "So, please don't be mad, but there isn't any food yet. JJ had a long practice, so we'll just order it. I guess this gives us options other than pizza now." 

"I don't care as long as I can keep my ass on the couch," JJ said as she flopped onto the couch. She sprawled out a bit, letting her arms hand off the arm and side of the couch. JJ's shirt rode up a bit and Emily bit her lip and darted her eyes away from the bit of skin exposed. JJ was hot, Emily recognized that and she recognized that she was definitely attracted to JJ on some level. Well, infatuated at the very least. "Strauss really had me busting my ass during practice." 

"I know honey, and I'm very sorry about that," Garcia said as she reached down to pat JJ's head. JJ swatted the hand away and sat up, placing her feet up on the coffee table. Garcia motioned for Emily to sit on the couch and JJ glanced back at her for a moment. Emily sat down on the end, scooting close to the arm to make sure that JJ had enough room. 

"You know I don't bite right? Unless you ask really nicely, but I'm with Will now, so you'd have to ask super nicely," JJ said with a wink. Emily looked away and blushed, not having expected JJ to be so flirty. 

"I'm going to go get the menus from the menu drawer. Play nice my pretties!" Garcia exclaimed as she ran out of the living room and towards the kitchen. With the two of them alone, JJ realized that Emily kept staring down at her hands. JJ hadn't pegged Emily as someone who was overly shy. Especially since Emily was friends with Morgan, who flirted with essentially everybody that he met. There were few exceptions, JJ had seen him jokingly flirting with their history teacher Rossi. 

"I, uh, didn't mean anything by what I said earlier. Sorry, I just assumed that you were cool with a little flirty banter. If I overstep or make you uncomfortable, just tell me," JJ said sincerely. Emily looked over at the blonde and felt her heart ache a little for how hurt JJ looked. It wasn't like JJ was hurt about Emily saying something to her, more that she was hurt by the disappointment in herself. 

"No, you're fine. I just had a bit of a long day I guess. I'm sorry for making you feel bad, really. It's been a pretty long week and I must be a bit out of it," Emily quickly tried clearing up. JJ nodded and glanced behind her where Penelope was sorting through the pile of menus. "I swear that I'm not normally so awkward when pretty girls flirt with me." 

"You think I'm pretty?" JJ asked as she reached forward and touched Emily's chin. Emily sucked in a little breath and held it until she saw JJ's serious facial expression break into a smile. "Obviously you don't look at yourself too much. You've got this totally hot teenage goth thing going on. I look like shit right now, but you're sweet Emily." 

"Are you kidding me? I wish that I looked like you. The blonde hair and blue eyes, you're gorgeous, seriously," Emily complimented. 

"Amen!" Garcia called out, spooking them both. JJ jumped up off the couch a little and Emily scooted towards JJ for protection. "Sorry to break up your love fest, which I appreciate. Both of you need to give yourselves more credit. Anyways, here are our choices for the night ladies."


	7. Kool Thing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Song: Kool Thing by Sonic Youth

JJ tapped her fingers on her steering wheel as she sat on the end of Emily's street. Derek had gone with the rest of the football team for a "team breakfast" before their big season start. The guys had been to a couple of away games, but the school recognized the start of the season as the first home game. The others were seen as warmups and if Will's nerves were anything to go by, the guys weren't getting very warm. JJ enjoyed sports, but high school football wasn't very interesting to her. Especially not their school's, the guys lacked a certain creativity in their plays that managed to those them games later on in the season. 

"Hey, sorry if I made you wait," Emily said as she quickly got inside of JJ's car. JJ took the car out of park and put it in drive. She glanced to make sure that Emily was buckled before she lifted her foot off of the break and onto the gas. 

"Emily, I doubt I was waiting for any longer than a minute. It's fine," JJ said and Emily glanced over at her. "So, are you coming to the football game to support Derek?" 

"Yeah, I think so. He's taking me to your party afterwards," Emily told her. JJ smiled, glad that Emily was going to be there. Since girls' night, JJ had been wanting to hang out more with Emily. The girl was cool in a way that JJ didn't know someone could be. Their tradeoff of compliments on Garcia's couch had all been sincere and nobody complimenting her had put a feeling in JJ's stomach like that since Elle. At the thought of Elle, JJ's heart started to ache a little in the way that only a first love could evoke. JJ wondered if Emily would have liked Elle and vice versa. They were different, but after an initial clash, JJ truly believed that Emily and Elle would have gotten along. 

Emily was cultured in a way that Elle liked. The way that Elle used to talk about New York made JJ wish that she wasn't stuck in the little DC suburb she was. Elle made JJ want to be in the heart of the city, watching as life went on around her. Now, Elle was back in New York and JJ was still stuck in the same place she'd been before, only now she had Emily. Maybe, if JJ asked, Emily would tell her things about all the places in the world she'd been. JJ was sure that there were things Emily was curious about that JJ could have told her about. 

"What are you thinking about?" Emily asked as JJ pulled up to a stop sign. 

"Hmm?" JJ hummed. 

"You had this look on your face like you were thinking. I guess I was just curious about what you were thinking about," Emily said as she fiddled with her thumbs. JJ readjusted her grip on the steering wheel as she pressed onto the gas pedal. 

"There was this girl, Elle. We used to be close, like, really close. We were girlfriends, she was the first person I'd really dated, dated, you know? Well, she used to tell me all this cool stuff about New York and I miss it. I miss hearing about big cities and all the life that populates them. The way that different cultures meld together to create a diverse community," JJ said, a glint in her eyes as she continued. Emily smiled as she thought about the way that different people seemed to coexist with each other. She definitely missed getting to experience different ways of life when she'd been moving around with her mother. It was nice to experience as much life as possible, but Emily knew that the lack of stability in her upbringing had some lingering effects. 

"This isn't exactly Smallville, but I get what you mean. There isn't as much to experience I guess," Emily offered and JJ nodded. "I miss Europe sometimes, but I'm glad to get to stay somewhere. This is the different experience for me." 

* * *

"Not too shabby," Derek said as he looked at the set up for the party. JJ had rushed home to set everything up before the alcohol was dropped off. It was sitting in the tubs of ice inside of the garage and some of the underclassmen players were dragging them out closer to the fire pit. Garcia had come to double check that the speakers worked and to test out her party playlist before JJ took them to the game to support Will. 

"I think this will be a success. It's definitely far out enough that nobody's gonna call the cops unless there's a snitch," JJ said as she grabbed picked up one of the cans to inspect. "This isn't too cheap. Your boys have good taste." 

"They're not my boys," Derek told her. "But we do have to get going. Thank you again for this." 

"Hey, no problem. Happy to help you guys out," JJ told him. Derek rounded up the other players and all of them drove out together. That left Garcia, Reid, and JJ together at her house alone. 

"Can I just stay inside for the party?" Reid asked and JJ nodded. 

"Yes Reid, you're welcome to stay inside during the party if you'd like. You know the drill about that," JJ said as she turned to her younger friend. 

"Don't go into Rosalyn's room, don't set anything on fire, and don't touch the gun cabinet," Reid read off from memory. JJ nodded and patted him on the shoulder. 

"You do have to go to the game still though," JJ said and Reid nodded. "You're okay with that? Not gonna argue about it being boring or too loud?" 

"I guess it's fine. It's just the one game, and I suppose if Will's important to you, he is to us as well." JJ eyed Reid suspiciously, but dropped it to go check over Garcia's playlist for the night. Reid sat down on top of one of the coolers and opened his book back up, deciding to read a bit as he waited for JJ and Garcia to get him to leave for the game. 

"Hey girlie, you nervous?" Garcia asked and JJ shook her head. JJ hadn't hosted a party before, but she did know that Morgan had been to more than enough to know if hers was a good one. Besides, technically it was Will and Derek's party, not hers. If it sucked, the team would look towards those to when they went to place the blame. "Do you think I can get that hot hunk of brown sugar to dance with me?" 

"Pen, babe, you could get Reid to dance with you if you wanted." JJ patted Garcia on the back as she looked around for the phone plugged into the speaker system. JJ started to scroll through the songs and noticed a pretty good mix of songs, even if a few the guys wouldn't actually like. Nobody really paid too much attention to the music unless they planned to dance and since not a lot of invitations had been sent out, JJ doubted the dance area would be too crowded. 

* * *

"WE ARE WINNERS!" Derek shouted over the music as he raised his drink in the air. The plastic red cup was full of soda, which JJ had kept in the garage so that nobody could spike it. Anybody with a DD pin was allowed into the garage and not allowed to have any of the alcohol. It was a pretty good system that JJ was impressed the football players were all following. There were a few more people than expected, but it wasn't anybody who JJ thought would cause any trouble. "Damn, this is great music." 

"It is," JJ said and Derek put his arm around her shoulders. The two of them walked around a bit, checking out the little different areas that were set up. "You know, if you'd like, you can have a couple drinks and just stay here. Will said he's not gonna drink, just drop your keys off with him. You definitely earned it tonight Mr. hat-trick." 

"I might just do that," Derek said and JJ ducked out away from him. Derek found Will and handed over his pin and the keys to his car. He immediately turned around to see Emily with her arm around Garcia as the two of them laughed at something. For a moment, Derek felt jealousy bubble up inside of him. Despite the fact that he hadn't really said much to Garcia outside of school, he liked the girl. She was nice to everybody, even some people he felt didn't deserve it, and she was beautiful, inside and out. That kind of beauty was something that Derek hadn't seen in anybody outside of fairy tale characters. If only he could have figured out an excuse or a link for the two of them to hang out with each other outside of classes. They didn't even have any classes together this year, which Derek thought really sucked. 

"Is he still looking?" Garcia asked and Emily turned around to look for Derek. She shook her head and Garcia frowned. 

"Hey chin up goddess. He's probably just getting something to drink. I think JJ extended an invitation for him to stay the night. Maybe the two of you could shack up," Emily suggested as she took a sip of her wine cooler. Garcia scoffed at that and Emily started giggling. "It could happen." 

"Not with him, he's special Emily. You know that. Yeah, he acts like a player, but you said yourself he's not really like that. The boy was just blessed with game," Garcia decided. Emily set her drink down for a moment before pulling Garcia towards the dancing area. "What are we doing?" 

"Catching his eye. Now, are you okay with extreme measures?" Emily asked and Garcia tilted her head in question. "Kissing, nothing past that. Only tongue if you initiate it." 

"You have good hygiene and I trust you, so yes," Garcia answered. Emily wrapped her arms around Garcia's waist and the two of them swayed to the music. Garcia was a much more adventurous dancer than Emily was, but Emily threw a bit of caution to the wind and mirrored Garcia's movements. The two of them had gotten pretty close to each other, but Emily noticed that Derek wasn't really watching them yet. She placed her hands suggestively on Garcia's body and Derek looked down at his drink. 

"He's playing it hard to get. I'm going in," Emily whispered to Garcia as she turned the blonde around. Emily put her finger under Garcia's chin and tilted the blonde teen's face towards hers. Emily leaned in to press her lips against Garcia's and Garcia's was quick to kiss her back. 

"Easy," Hotch said as he grabbed the back of Derek's collar. "It's not because Emily likes her." 

"She's using her?" Derek asked, trying to break free from Hotch's grip. Derek had really thought that Emily was a good person, but using someone like Penelope Garcia to get another person's attention was not something he'd stand for. 

"Derek, go inside and calm down before you do something you'll regret. Come on dude, I can take you home if you want," Hotch offered. Derek clenched his fists and turned away from Garcia and Emily. 

"Let's just get out of here. Will's got my keys dude," Derek said and Hotch left to get his keys. He turned around just in time to see Garcia and Emily looking over at him, a look of hurt in Garcia's eyes. Derek clenched his jaw and walked over to meet Hotch by his vehicle. 

"I think we fucked that up," Garcia said as she watched Derek leave. 

"Yeah, but come Monday I'll explain everything to him. I'll make this right, I promise." Garcia nodded and held onto Emily's hand. 

"Is it okay that people know you're not straight now?" Garcia asked and Emily shrugged. 

"Bound to happen eventually. I mean, it's not like I hide myself away or anything," Emily reasoned. She didn't outwardly project her sexuality, but she also didn't actively hide it from anybody. If she did, she did a purposefully shitty job of it. 

"I'm gonna go in with Reid, this has been a lot tonight," Garcia told Emily and the brunette nodded. She went to get herself another drink and ran into JJ, who looked a little shaken up. 

"Hey JJ, everything okay?" Emily asked as she nudged the blonde a little. "Thinking again?" 

"Kind of. Garcia go inside?" JJ asked and Emily nodded. "You two are close. I didn't know you liked her." 

"Of course I like Garcia, she's my friend," Emily said and JJ sighed under her breath. JJ hadn't meant 'like' in a platonic way, but a romantic one. There was something that bubbled up inside of JJ when she saw Garcia and Emily on the dance floor. It was weird, she hadn't felt the same way whenever she had seen those cheerleaders all over her boyfriend. She was supposed to have been jealous then, but she wasn't. In fact, JJ hadn't felt anything when she saw those girls all over Will. If JJ was being honest, she didn't think that she had anything to be jealous of with Will because at this point, there wasn't anything in the relationship for her anymore. It was more like keeping up an appearance and had been draining JJ a bit. She'd need to break up with him eventually, but JJ didn't want to ruin his night.


	8. Bizarre Love Triangle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Song: Bizarre Love Triangle by New Order

Emily woke up with a pounding headache and in an unfamiliar area. Elizabeth had been told not to wait up, so Emily wasn't too worried about her mother having stayed up for her. Emily hadn't told her mother that she was going to a party, but she had let on that she was going to head out with friends. It wasn't like there was trouble that Emily could get up to in DC that she hadn't gotten up to in Europe. In America, she was just a politician's daughter. In Europe, she was the American guest, which had gotten into quite a few places she otherwise would have been turned away from. 

The floor creaked behind somewhere behind Emily and the brunette sat up and turned to see JJ's boyfriend walking up the direction of the basement. Sometime after most of the guests had left, Emily remembered Will coming in and drinking while Reid put on some science fiction movie. Emily liked science fiction movies, especially the classics, but this one she had seen before and wasn't a fan of. It didn't help that Emily was too drunk to understand Reid's psychobabble about the different themes in the movie. Emily had begun to grow fond of the younger senior, but she also found it difficult sometimes to simply enjoy things around him. 

"Good mornin'," Will greeted with a smile. Emily had no clue how long he'd been in DC, but his accent made him stick out like a sore thumb. A few kids in their school had accents, showing which neighborhoods and parts of the surrounding area they'd spent most of their time. Will's was too thick for him to have been from somewhere remotely northern or Midwest. Emily remembered a trip down south that she took with her dad and Will reminded her of the guys that she'd met down there. All of them had been polite, even if the hospitality wasn't genuine, the people were definitely a bit more sociable. 

"Morning," Emily replied. She pushed her fingers into her eyes as she squeezed them shut. She could hear Will shuffling around a bit around her before his footsteps began to fade. Emily laid back down on the couch and pulled the pillow she'd used while sleeping over her head. For a moment, everything was quiet and the pounding in her head subsided. That moment ended nearly as quickly as it began though as she heard Reid's voice carrying from upstairs. More footsteps followed the voice coming from upstairs. 

"Here ya go, it'll help the headache a bit," Will told Emily as he held out a mug. Emily pushed herself onto her elbows before moving completely into a sitting position. She took the cup from Will and looked inside of it. It didn't look or smell particularly bad, so she'd trust it. Emily had been through her fair share of hangover remedies whenever she had been in Europe. 

"Thank you," Emily said as she took a sip. It was sweet, almost overwhelmingly and sickeningly so. 

"Don't sip it, just straight down the hatch. Trust me, it gets to be a lot after awhile," Will advised her as he started walking towards the stairs. Emily took a deep breath before just chugging as much of the sweet liquid as she could. The aftertaste was bitter, shockingly so. Emily leaned forward and put her hands on the coffee table, gripping the edges as she tried to level herself out. Once she felt the anger in her stomach subside, she leaned back against the couch and placed a hand over her forehead. Emily was surprised to feel a bit of a cold sweat on her forehead. JJ's house wasn't hot and she hadn't necessarily felt sick, so Emily chalked it down to whatever Will had given her to drink. 

"He give you that hangover remedy?" JJ asked with an amused drink. Emily sat up a bit and nodded in JJ's direction. JJ sighed as she plopped down on the couch next to Emily and placed her feet up on the coffee table. "So, you need a ride home or something?" 

"Do you think you could drop me off at Derek's? I think he's mad about me for dancing with Penelope and I want to clear things up," Emily explained and JJ nodded. "I don't want to lose another good friend over something stupid I did." 

"That's understandable. If you want, I can lend you a pair of sunglasses and we can get going," JJ suggested. Emily nodded and JJ hopped up off of the couch. Emily darted her eyes away, the quickness of JJ's movements had made her head spin a little bit. JJ reached out a hand towards Emily and the darker haired teen took it. The two of them walked outside together, surprised to see that it wasn't too messy from the party last night. JJ ran around to the passenger's side to get the door for Emily before getting in the driver's side herself. 

"What a gentlewoman, thank you," Emily said and JJ looked away as she blushed. She wasn't sure what it was about what Emily had said that triggered that response in her, but she definitely wasn't used to it. Maybe it was the way that Emily reminded JJ of Elle, which JJ wouldn't even had noticed if Reid hadn't pointed it out instead of sleeping last night. With a quick little shake of her head, JJ looked over at Emily and pretended to tip her hat before saying something extremely stupid. 

"Milady." It was silent for a moment, but then both Emily and JJ broke out into laughter. JJ started her truck and whipped around so that she could drive down her driveway. She was careful to not drive in a way that'd jostle Emily too much. JJ could tell from the way that Emily kept her head leaned against the side of the car that she was not feeling overly well. Hangovers, even though JJ hadn't experienced many, were not fun. 

"Do you think you can stop for coffee? I'll buy," Emily asked as she twisted her seatbelt around by her shoulder. 

"Oh yeah, of course. Dunkin okay?" JJ asked as she looked for a place to merge. 

"I guess so. I don't think I've been there before."

* * *

Derek really did feel bad about the party. If Emily and Garcia were a thing, it wasn't any of Derek's business. That didn't necessarily mean that it hurt him any less to see them together. He really did like Penelope Garcia, even if she didn't like him back. Maybe he could settle on just being Garcia's friend after her went and talked to Emily about what'd happened. A part of him doubted that he actually would have fought Emily, but he definitely would have at least gotten in her face and yelled a bit. Just thinking about doing that much to his friend made his stomach twist in an uncomfortable way. 

"Derek, there's some goth chick here to see you," Derek's little sister told him. Derek stood up from where he'd been sitting and trying to finish a science report to go downstairs and see Emily. There weren't a lot of "goth chicks" that knew where Derek lived, at least not that he knew of. 

"I brought you coffee," Emily said as she held the cup of hot coffee out towards her friend. Derek smiled as he took it from her hands to take a drink. Black with two sugars, the perfect drink to wake him up a little more. 

"Thank you for the coffee. About last night, I am really sorry for how I acted. I'm really happy for you and Penelope." Derek was being sincere and it hurt Emily to think that he legitimately thought she would go after someone that she knew he liked. Penelope was great and if Emily didn't know how great for each other they were, she definitely would have at least tried to shoot her shot. However, Garcia talked about how amazing Derek Morgan was constantly when they worked in the library together and Derek looked at Penelope like a lovesick puppy when he thought nobody was looking. 

"Derek, Garcia and I aren't a thing. She wanted your attention, so she asked me to help her a bit. Things went a bit too far and you've really got nothing to apologize for. We're good, so it's all good," Emily told him. Derek nodded and invited Emily inside for a bit. The two of them went upstairs to Derek's room and Emily couldn't say she was surprised by how it all looked. "Aren't you the All-American boy?" 

"I try," Derek joked. Emily pulled a book off of his bookshelf and flipped to a random page in it. She had read it before, but the version she had was in Russian and had been a gift from one of the other diplomat's sons. He had been an odd boy, always following her around and talking about arranged political marriages. Emily knew what he was insinuating, but she didn't entertain the idea of being married off to that guy. "I haven't read that one yet, is it good?" 

"There's a reason that people don't really talk about how great it is anymore. The author's prominent themes are a bit dated," Emily answered honestly. She read a couple more pages before she closed it and handed it to Derek to flip through. For a little while, he seemed into it, but then he came across the first of many passages that just made people generally uncomfortable. 

"What the hell?" He set the book back on the shelf and then grabbed his football out of his practice bag. "Wanna go out back and play a little catch?" 

"I'm hungover and not what one would call an athlete," Emily told him. He batted his eyelashes at her and Emily sighed. "Sure, what could go wrong?"

* * *

JJ laid out on Garcia's bed, letting her friend paint her fingernails as they both lounged around. If JJ was being honest, she wasn't completely sure how she'd ended up deciding to stay the night with Garcia. They dropped Reid off, JJ took Garcia to the store to get groceries, and then the next thing she knew, she was wearing pajamas and Garcia was giving her a makeover. JJ didn't mind it, she normally just put in the bare minimum when it came to her own makeup, but she wasn't opposed to letting someone doll her up a bit. 

"So, is everything okay with you?" Garcia asked JJ. It was obvious to Garcia that something was up with JJ, even if the other blonde wasn't aware of it. JJ had been sort of quiet, and not in the tired way, but in the distracted way. JJ had been that way since the party, which made Garcia wonder if maybe something happened with Will. "Are you and Will doing good?" 

"I think everything is fine with me. I guess I was thinking about how much I missed having a girlfriend. Will is great and I really do like him, but something about Emily reminds me of Elle," JJ sounded a little hazy as she started talking about Elle. 

"They're not the same in the way your brain thinks they are. Em's a bottom Jay," Garcia told JJ. JJ's cheeks heated up and she started to sputter a bit as her brain failed to think of a defending statement. "You should spend more time with Emily though. It's pretty obvious the two of you have chemistry, and not just the class." 

"I never took chemistry," JJ told Garcia. Garcia swatted at JJ's shoulder playfully before resuming her nail painting. "But I guess so. I take it you don't wanna come with me to the softball game tomorrow, do you?" 

"I don't and I'm not sure taking Emily is going to be much better," Garcia pointed out. Emily hadn't shown any interest in sports in the month or so that she'd been going to school with everybody. 

"I'll ask her anyways and it's not about the softball. It's about the fact that it's a minor league men's slow pitch softball team and they suck. It might as well be a heckling league." 

"Fine, you call Emily and you tell her that you're taking her to make fun of a bunch of old guys playing softball together," Garcia said as she finished up JJ's nails. "But you have to wait for these to dry first." 

"Yes ma'am," JJ sat up and splayed her hands over her thighs, watching as the nail polish shimmered as it caught the light.


	9. Cars

"Where are you going so early?" Elizabeth asked Emily. It wasn't that Emily stayed in bed all day on Sundays, but it was before 8. Emily liked her sleep, almost more than anything else in the world. Elizabeth wondered if one of her friends had something to do with it. She hoped that was the case, at the very least. Emily was a good girl, she deserved to be happier than she was. 

"JJ asked me if I wanted to hang out today. She should be here soon. I'm going to wait for her outside," Emily told her mother. Elizabeth didn't really know what to say to stop her daughter from just walking away, so she let Emily go. Emily sat outside waiting for JJ with a large travel mug of coffee in her hand. Emily waited by the curb on the edge of her street. Hotch was the only person who ever really came up to her house, Derek had a couple of times when it rained, but that was it. Emily wanted to feel like a normal teenager and normal kids didn't live in mansions. Emily was sure that she did a lot of things normal teens didn't do, but she was learning and trying to fit in better. 

Emily watched as JJ's truck turned down her street. Emily stood up and brushed herself off. As JJ's vehicle approached, Emily noticed that she could hear loud music blaring. It was funny to Emily because she knew that anybody who was home and could hear the music was staring out their window to see what "delinquent" was there this time. Emily recognized the song, something loud and angry from the 90s. Just before Emily opened her door though, the song changed to something a little more indie pop. Emily wouldn't have minded whatever JJ had been listening to before, but Emily did think it was cute that JJ changed the music for her. 

"Good morning," JJ greeted Emily. It didn't surprise Emily to see JJ so chipper that early in the morning. Emily didn't mind the mornings, but she wasn't going to be actively happy about being awake. "Thank you for coming with me. I wasn't sure if this was your thing or not." 

"I guess we'll find out whether it is or not today," Emily said with a shrug. JJ smiled at Emily and then let her foot up off the breaks. The two of them didn't really talk a lot on the car ride. JJ did let Emily know that the music was playing from a playlist that Garcia had made for them just before JJ left the blonde's apartment. Emily remembered telling Garcia about some of the songs that were playing, but there were a few that Emily hadn't mentioned that the brunette hoped JJ had added thinking of her. 

"I'll get us some good seats," JJ said as she tugged Emily along. The ballpark was one for a nearby school, but this wasn't a school game. All of the players were adult men that looked to be in their late 30s into their late 40s. 

"Do you go to men's softball games often?" Emily asked JJ. The blonde didn't really have an answer, it was something she'd done almost every weekend with Elle. The two of them would get up early and go watch the games, Elle critiquing the players' athleticism and making fun of them as they drank themselves stupid. Once a few of them got drunk, it became much more entertaining. 

"Just wait until they're drunk, then it's funny. Sometimes the announcers get drunk too, then it's just a big mess," JJ told Emily. They got seats close enough to see, but far enough away to avoid possibly getting beer sprayed on them. For the first couple of innings, it was beyond boring for Emily. However, JJ was right, once the players started drinking a bit, the game got easier to watch. 

"Isn't this a bit dangerous?" Emily asked and JJ nodded. 

"Oh yeah, last time I was here, someone broke their hand." JJ leaned over to whisper to Emily. Emily got goosebumps from JJ's breath tickling against her skin. Luckily for Emily, it was still hot, so if she was blushing, she could blame it on that. JJ leaned back to how she'd been before, but now Emily was a bit more aware of how close JJ was to her. When JJ moved to try and see around someone, she'd brush against Emily depending on the way she leaned. Emily knew it was wrong, but she wished that JJ would never stop leaning against her, that she'd never stop touching her. 

* * *

Emily decided that life wasn't fair whenever her parents split and her dad chose to ignore her for a new family. Several times after that had happened to her, life decided to give her little reminders. The newest one was that one of Emily's few friends in America had become her new crush. It wasn't just that JJ was hot, because she was, but JJ was also a good person. Emily knew that she had gotten lucky finding her group of friends and she didn't want to do something stupid and mess that up. 

"You okay?" JJ asked as she glanced over at Emily. They had stopped at some diner for dinner on the way back from watching the games all day. Between them sat a large basket of fries and chicken strips. They'd gotten the "bottomless" basket of both because JJ thought it was blasphemous that Emily had never eaten chicken strips before. Emily swore that technically she had, but JJ swore that those didn't count because they were too fancy. 

"Yeah, I'm just a little tired I guess," Emily lied. She wasn't tired, she was just caught up in her own head. "Thank you for today, it was fun." 

"Thanks for coming with me. Garcia loves you infinitely more because I think she's sick of doing stuff like this with me. We have our girls' nights and that's enough for her." JJ's smile seemed sad for a moment, but the blonde quickly covered it up. Emily offered her a smile in return and the two of them fell into a bit of a silence for a moment. The waitress came back to refill their drinks, breaking the bit of heaviness that had washed over the two teens. 

"Garcia mentioned that your first game is coming up," Emily tried mentioning casually. JJ perked up at the mention of soccer and nodded. 

"Oh yeah, that's on Tuesday. Monday, Garcia and Reid are going to initiate you into my personal spirit squad. Then before the game, you're probably gonna get face painted. It isn't optional," JJ warned Emily. Emily nodded, an amused look on her face. Honestly, Emily didn't mind the idea of letting Garcia paint her face if it was to support JJ. Besides, she was certain that she'd become friendly with a couple other girls on the soccer team as well. "I'm pretty nervous, Strauss hasn't announced the varsity captain yet." 

"I doubt you have anything to worry about. I hear you're a natural leader," Emily said and JJ shrugged. Emily was about to say something else, but she was interrupted by a phone call. "Sorry, it's my mom." 

"It's okay, I'll get a to-go box and get you home," JJ said and Emily left to answer the phone. She snuck the bill with her and paid while JJ flagged down their waitress. Emily waited outside after she paid by JJ's truck. "You're sneaky Prentiss. I'm getting us next time." 

"Maybe you are, maybe you aren't," Emily teased.


End file.
